Salmon With Lemon Herb Butter

This salmon with lemon herb butter dish is an easy and a tasty low carb dinner that would be great for a keto Valentine’s Day dinner. Learn how to perfect cook the salmon filets and then top with an easy lemon herb butter hearts for a special but easy dinner.

You might also like this keto filet with blue cheese butter recipe.

I have many low carb salmon recipes because my family loves it, even my teenage son. So since Valentine’s Day is coming up I thought I’d make this easy salmon with lemon herb butter as the main dish for all 3 of us.

I’ve learned how to cook a salmon fillet to perfection and I’ll show you how. They have a nice crispy top and then the lemon herb butter hearts melt over them for even more flavor.

Why I love this low carb meal is that it’s easy but it seems elegant and therefor good for a special dinner. The herb butter can be frozen or refrigerated and used for things like steamed veggies, steaks, and if you are not on a low carb diet like me, you can put them on bread, potatoes and noodles.

Recipe ingredients I used in the lemon herb butter.

All you need to make this flavored butter is of course unsalted butter, fresh garlic, fresh herbs, lemon zest and a little bit of fresh lemon juice.

Today I just used fresh parsley for the herbs but I have used basil and taragon in the past. You can use whatever of your favorite herbs you want but they should be fresh. In the summer I grow lemon thyme which would be wonderful as would fresh dill.

And if you don’t have fresh herbs any you can just make this a garlic and lemon butter which are classic flavors for fish! It will still be delicious.

How to make the lemon herb butter.

1. This is really easy to make. Just add the garlic clove and herbs to a food processor and pulse until chopped finely. Then add in the softened butter, lemon juice and lemon zest. Process until well combined.
2. Then just use a silicone spatula to scoop the compound butter mixture into a silicone mold. I originally got this heart mold at the dollar store! I’ve been using for years.
3. Place the butter mold into the freezer and freeze for a couple hours until the butter hardens. You could easily make this flavored butter days in advance if you wanted.
4. When they are hard, pop them out and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer or refrigerator.

Other uses for the flavored butter patties.

This garlic butter can be used for all kinds of things. Vegetables especially would work well. Just steam your veggies and melt a pat on top. Instant flavor booster!

It would also be great on steaks, chicken, other fish, shrimp, cauliflower rice and if you aren’t low carb try it on bread rolls, pasta, rice or potatoes.

You can make all kinds of flavor combinations using different herbs and spices. I made this version because I knew my husband would like it.

How to perfectly sear salmon filets.

I like to use the stove top instead of the oven to so as to get that nice crusty top. And I used fresh fish not frozen. Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: I used a non-stick skillet to sear the salmon. So place it on the stove and heat to medium high to get it nice and hot. Liberally spray it with non-stick spray. 

Step 2: While the skillet is heating up, rub a little olive oil over the salmon filets and sprinkle salt and black pepper to season them.

Step 3: When the skillet is hot, lay each piece of fish down with the skin side up. Then should be sizzling now. Turn the heat down to medium heat and cook the filets for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Step 4: When they are cooked ⅓ of the way up from the bottom, flip them over and cook the other side. You can see a distinct line where the the fish is cooked on the bottom.

Step 5: Cook on the other side until it’s also cooked about ⅓ of the way up from the bottom and then take them off the heat. Let the salmon rest for 10 minutes and it will continue to cook.

If you don’t like the pink center you can cook them a bit more but I can dry out. I think the pink middle just melts in your mouth.

Take out the butter patties about 30 minutes before you serve dinner so they soften and can melt over the fish and green beans. (Please scroll down for the printable recipe card.)

What low carb side dishes to serve for keto a Valentine’s Day dinner.

I made a very rich and delicious gruyere cheese mashed cauliflower dish which you can see above that would go great with the salmon. Then we had steamed green beans (which you could also use the butter with or a little bacon).

The cauliflower mash will be posted next week and I’ll link it here when it’s done. It’s pretty simple but it’s rich and tasty.

Other keto side dishes to try would be these scalloped turnips (tastes just like potatoes) or the cauliflower version. Or maybe this easy asiago cauliflower rice.

A few easy low carb desserts for Valentines Day.

You can check out any of my keto desserts and sweet treats but I would suggest this easy keto chocolate mousse, these drunken berries or this berry cheesecake that you can make in the air fryer.

Or you can just gather some strawberries and whipped cream for a simple keto dessert or grab some high cacao content chocolate for a low carb treat.

Well I hope you give this easy but tasty keto Valentine’s Day dinner. It’s a delicious dinner and you will be surprised at all the things you use the lemon herb butter with. It’s so versatile and yummy!

And the seared rich salmon has amazing flavor and will be your new favorite way to make it even if it’s for a regular weeknight dinner. I hope you like as much as we did. Enjoy!

The nutritional information for 1 pat of butter (12 total) is 69 calories / 8.1g fat / 0.2g carbs / 0.1g protein

And a 5 oz salmon filet has 211 calories / 6.3g fat / 0 carbs / 36.2g protein